Invitation
by The Genius Mage
Summary: A Seifer and Olette friendship fiction. Olette decides to invite Seifer to her birthday party, even though she has no idea why. But she's a girl that believes in second chances, or in his case, fourth or fifth chances...


Invitation

_**This came into my head during a visit to the doctor, (I needed new glasses), and I thought Seifer had a bad attitude, but it had to be for a reason. No one is born mean, right? In-game he actually listened to Olette over a matter with the mansion I believe, so here it is, why he might listen to her.**_

_*******_

Olette toyed with her brown hair, lips pulled down at the corners. She had in her hand four party invitations, her birthday to be exact, scheduled tomorrow.

Now, she had already invited Hayner, Pence, and Roxas. Of course she would, they were her best friends, they would have come with or without the invites, and she wouldn't have been surprised.

Now…she had a nagging feeling, for some reason, to invite the rival gang. A peace offering? Perhaps. It didn't matter, she had invited some other kids from school and around the block, why not the local "disciplinary committee"?

She took a deep breath; green eyes shut tight, and then stepped down the street towards the sandlot.

True to form, Seifer and his gang were chatting casually, sitting on the benches, Rai sipping a soda loudly. Fuu lifted her head when she entered, but made no more notions to the fact someone had entered "their" sandlot.

Seifer looked like he was going to stand up, but seeing she was alone, he just called loudly, "What do you want, brunette?"

Olette showed them the party invites, all wrapped up in their light gold envelopes.

"I'm having a birthday party tomorrow, my place. Come if you want, or don't. But I just wanted to ask."

To her surprise, Seifer actually took his invite, slipping it in his jacket. He smirked as Vivi and the others quickly followed suit, snatching the envelopes.

"Thanks," he drawled lazily. "Now do you have anything better to do than loiter around here?"

Olette bit back a retort, just nodding and waving good bye. She turned back around, nodding again at Vivi, who had just stuttered out a thank you.

"Oh. Thanks, y'know?" Rai said quickly.

"Thanks." Fuu said also, but she sounded like she didn't mean it.

Olette offered them a warm smile. "You're welcome."

She set back off down the path and up the slope, feeling happy. Even if they didn't come, she tried, and that's all that mattered to a kind, thoughtful girl like Olette.

**~***~**

The party was just about to begin.

Roxas was over early, helping her set up the food, since his house was closest.

"Thanks for coming early." She said, smiling at him. As usual, he was so lost in thought, his hands just moving as he set things up, that it took him a moment longer than normal to answer.

"Oh, um…no problem." He lifted his eyes to smile nervously.

That was okay, he always did that. She didn't mind waiting for his opinion, because if Roxas spoke, his words were always worth listening to. Sometimes she preferred his companionable silence over Hayner's dramatic speeches…

"Olette?" He asked her. She jerked out of her thoughts, guiltily stroking her hair.

"Hmm?"

"The guests are here."

She went to the door, welcoming them all into her home. Everyone had a present, which they placed on the table next to Roxas's. Hayner shot Roxas a suspicious look, but as usual Roxas missed it.

Olette cheerfully spoke to some of her female acquaintances, kids she knew but not as well as her best friends. You know, those kids you don't mind talking to, you know their name and face, and you could sit with them without feeling awkward, but they weren't your _friend, _friends.

She was just the tiniest bit disappointed that Seifer hadn't shown up, but to her shock Vivi arrived at the last moment, shyly handing her a hastily wrapped gift.

"Vivi!" She said in surprise. She didn't mind the little guy, and she had no idea why he continued to hang out with Seifer and the bunch, but it wasn't her business.

"Uh, hello." He replied in his high pitched voice.

"Here alone?" She inquired, placing his gift on top of the surprisingly large pile, all ranging in size, shape, and color.

"Um, yeah. For now. I mean…Sei-Seifer might come by later…"

She asked if Seifer had something to look into, and Vivi scuffed his feet on the ground, replying sort of vaguely that he had a "matter" to attend.

"That's okay. We'll have fun without him." She promised him. Of course, she knew the girls thought he was the "cutest little guy".

The party started off with movies and games, not just board games either, but video games too, and the DDR pad Olette had was extremely popular. Everyone was enjoying themselves, laughing and drinking the soda and eating the food, and Pence succeeded in persuading Roxas to try and dance, which made all the girls swoon. The boy seemed unaware of this, and just smiled a lot, in a nervous way, whenever someone brought it up.

Olette finished beating Hayner at a racing game, (he was fuming and ranting over this), and she left the den to head back to the kitchen for some water. On her way back, the doorbell rang. She paused, confused, since the pizza guy had already been here.

She opened the door, not expecting to see Seifer lounging against the doorframe, like standing up just wasn't worth the extra effort.

"You came after all?" She told him, not bothering to hide her astounded delight.

"Why not? There's nothing else to do." He waved his hand dismissively. "Rai and Fuu are off somewhere, probably heading home. I'm just going to hang here for a little."

"If you want, you're welcome." She stepped aside, letting Seifer enter her home. It wasn't small, or large, just a good sized medium house that for some reason had a constant smell of peppermint.

Olette showed Seifer the rest of the party, and then Hayner got…_angry._

She saw that coming. The other guests, besides Roxas and Pence, were pretty much okay with the fact he was hanging around. (The girls were staring raptly at Seifer, of course not Olette though.)

"What? You invited this creep?" Hayner pointed his finger dramatically at Seifer. There he goes, being theatrical again, much to Olette's annoyance.

"Calm down, Blondie." Seifer drawled, smirking. "Olette invited me." He jerked his finger toward the said girl, who was astonished that the "committee" leader had called her by name. Derogatory names were Seifer's specialty; he just loved to use that condescending tone on others.

"Oh yeah? Why did you invite him, Olette?" Hayner demanded.

"Well, I just wanted to be polite!" She informed him, narrowing her eyes.

"Guys…" Roxas began.

"Don't you get started!" Hayner shouted at him, stamping his foot and raising his fist.

"Hey, Roxas didn't say anything, yet." Pence began reasonably.

"Shut up!" Seifer and Hayner chorused.

"I'm obviously not welcome here. Later, brunette, blonde." He smirked, turning around and leaving.

"Oh no. Seifer, wait!" Olette was about to go after him, not wanting to end on a worse note than usual with him, but paused to yell at Hayner, "Ugh! Why did you have to ruin it? I was trying to offer an olive branch!" She raced after Seifer, but not before seeing Hayner's guilty expression, and then heard him ask what she meant by the olive branch.

Catching Seifer at the front porch, Olette took his arm, gently.

He froze, glaring at her, the moon casting shadows on his face. "What?"

"I'm sorry for Hayner, I really am. You don't have to leave, though."

"It'd be better if I did. Got to get home, anyway, before_ Pops_ starts wondering where I'm at."

"I'm-"She paused, removing her hand from his arm and seeing the thin, ghost white line of a scar. "How did that happen?" Olette asked, studying the jagged line that she could just make out in the light.

"Not important, nor do I recall asking you." He snarled, yanking his arm from her grasp. She hesitated, then asked,

"Was it your father?"

A long pause, in which his breathing pace intensified. Finally, he asked her how she had known.

"The way you said 'Pops'…like a curse word or something. How long has he-"

"Not long. Not anymore, anyway. When I was younger, he slashed me with a beer bottle glass shard."

"That's terrible!" She lightly took his shoulder, afraid to set him off again, but wanting to comfort him.

"Where's your mother?" Olette asked gently.

"Dead."

"Oh." She sighed, looking up at him. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Happened a long time ago."

"If-if you ever need anything, or if I can do something…" She lightly shook his shoulder, smiling. "Let me know, okay? Regardless of what they say, I think everyone deserves a second chance."

"In my case, a fifteenth or twentieth chance." He said sarcastically, but his eyes had softened.

She laughed a little. "Please, for real, Seifer. If you need help, come see me. I can make time if you want to talk to someone about it; any secrets are safe with me."

He nodded slowly, and she removed her hand. "See you later." Olette told him.

He nodded, walking off and waving his hand in good bye. He paused. "Happy Birthday."

She smiled and thanked him, then went back inside.

~~**~~

Olette woke up in the morning, put on some clothes, then prepared to head downstairs to go to the Usual Spot, when she saw a package on the table.

She paused, picking up the neatly wrapped lavender package, studying the small tag.

"Not everyone cares to listen, thanks. Seifer." She read, smiling at the untidy handwriting. She carefully opened the gift, pulling out a stuffed brown cat with green eyes, which had a slight resemblance to her. It was really cute and soft, and she loved it instantly. She knew it would find a place on her bedside from now on.

The routine for her and her friends returned to normal then, and though Seifer never did talk to her, he did still call her by name, and he listened when she had something to say, just like she did.

Sometimes she was annoyed of him, but Olette knew better now, and she let each and every problem slide by, only filling her memory with happy moments with her friends.

Because Olette was just that kind of thoughtful, caring, kind girl.

***

_**I hope you enjoyed! Please, click the review button!**_


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